18/04/23 Weimar and Nazi Germany 1

Hitler's Economic Policy

How Hitler Transformed the German Economy

By Mr Walker

http://gcsehistory.cjb.netwww.SchoolHistory.co.uk

18/04/23 Weimar and Nazi Germany 2

Objectives At the end of this lesson you should be

able to: Understand Hitler’s priorities on coming

to power Evaluate the Schacht period of

economic management 1933-5 Understand the importance of Goering

and the 4 year Plan 1936-40 Evaluate the success or otherwise of

Nazi economic policy

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Unemployment During the election campaigns Hitler had promised to

solve unemployment. This was only one of his aims

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Hitler’s economic priorities

1. Drag Germany out of the world recession

2. Solve unemployment (which he had promised to do)

3. Make Germany an “autarchy” – self sufficient

4. Get rid of Jewish industrialists and give their businesses to “Aryans”

4 Transform the economy to focus on rearmament and war

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Hjalmar Schacht Schacht was President of the Reichsbank who directed German

economic policy He believed in steady growth and a stable currency He promoted trade agreements with developing countries trading

manufactured goods for cheap raw materials He was against spending out too much on rearmament before the

German economy was strong enough His New Plan of 1934 aimed to reduce imports into Germany and to

strengthen the currency He fell out with Hitler over the speed of rearmament and was replaced

by Hermann Goering in 1936

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Hitler’s Ideas German economy can be converted into a war machine Germany must rearm quickly, conquer countries by

Blitzkrieg or lightening war, takeover their economies and move on

Conquered countries would give the master race “Lebensraum”

By exploiting conquered countries living standards could be maintained at home despite all the money being spent on war

In 1936 Goering was appointed to introduce a 4 year plan to put Hitler’s ideas into action

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The aims of the 4 year Plan

Speed up rearmament and make Germany ready for war

Make Germany self sufficient in raw materials “autarchy” by developing home grown substitutes.

In 1933 total money spent on the military was 1.9 million marks by 1939 it was 32.3 million!

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What were the results of this?

The size of the German army grew massively

Hitler became more confident and started to openly break the Treaty of Versailles

Austria 1938

Czechoslovakia 1938 Poland 1939

World war broke out!

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Was the 4 year Plan a success? Unemployment dropped quickly 4.8 million in 1933 to

0.5 million in 1938 Wages rose slightly but were still lower in 1938 than

they had been in 1928 Working hours went up to 49 hours per week in 1939 –

52 hours in 1943 to over 60 hours per week by 1945 There were fewer consumer goods (personal and

household goods Trade unions were replaced by “Beauty of Labour” and

strength Through Joy” who organised better conditions and leisure activities

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Were people better off under the Nazis?

Unemployment fell everywhere not just in

Germany Some people were forced to work on public works There were disadvantages to SDA and KDF –

workers had no representation Workers put more into the economy than they

got out If you were “Aryan” and of no strong political

beliefs life was relatively good

18/04/23 Weimar and Nazi Germany 11

Tasks 1. Research a short

case study factfile on Hjalmar Schacht and Herman Goering

2. Following further research answer the question, Was Nazi economic policy a success